This invention is concerned with compositions and methods of treating rheumatoid arthritis, osteo-arthritis, and arthritis associated with psoriasis and with lupus and other auto-immune diseases, and also for treating non-specific joint pain associated with stress or incidental to another ailment, using dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and/or other anesthetic steroids dissolved in an oily vehicle, and preferably administered topically or orally.
The extensive use of cortisone and related anti-inflammatory steroids in treating arthritis has been limited by the knowledge of several side effects, including calcium loss and osteoporosis, immune suppression, and atrophy of various tissues, including the adrenal glands. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents have been used with some success to avoid the glucocorticoids' side effects, but generally are ineffective in preventing the advance of the disease process. Other agents have been used or proposed which retard the advance of the disease, possibly by inhibiting mitosis, but they generally have toxic side effects.
It would be desirable to use in treatment substances which are normally present in the body at high levels, since these normal substances, especially when used in physiological quantities, rarely have harmful side effects.
The improvement which sometimes occurs during pregnancy in women suffering from arthritis has led to the experimental use of some of the hormones of pregnancy in treating arthritis, but the female sex hormones would obviously produce side effects when used in large doses in males.
Some steroidal substances, however, lack conventional hormonal activity and are normally present in significant amounts in both males and females. A number of such steroids, e.g. dehydroepiandrosterone, are present in elevated quantities during pregnancy. Such steroids have received little attention since they have been considered to be only chemical intermediates or end products destined for nothing more important than to be excreted. It was therefore surprising to find that a number of these substances are useful in the treatment of arthritis and related diseases.
It is an object of this invention to provide an anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical preparation useful for the treatment of arthritis and lacking undesirable hormonal side effects. It is a further object of this invention to provide such a pharmaceutical preparation in a form suitable for administration locally to the affected joints without requiring injection.